This morning I was feeling lazy, so I opened the door to let Facebiter out to do her business in the front yard.

She bolted through the door, only to stop with that excited-tail-swishing-tongue-hanging-out-eyes-open-wide doggy excitement posture at the top of the porch stairs. She looked out into the yard, looked at me, looked back at the yard. I could tell she wanted something from me, but I wasn’t sure.

I gestured with my hand down the stairs and snapped my fingers. Sometimes that makes her do stuff, even though I never taught her that. It’s always worth a try. She bolted. In fact, she bolted so much faster than usual that it alarmed me and I stepped out of my front door and onto the porch to see where she was going.

She was leaping toward my tenant’s plastic-wrapped newspaper that the delivery person had thrown into the driveway, so I was glad that she wasn’t running into the doggy-shredding street in front of my house. She picked it up with some effort and leapt up the stairs to set it at my feet. Then she stepped back and wagged her tail, awaiting a treat or a reward.

Elsa von Facebiter might be the best dog in the world. I found her on the streets of the ‘hood, and every once in a while, she’ll pull some suprise like this that makes my day. Now I have to get a newspaper subscription.